The Arizona Cardinals filled out their quarterback puzzle on Thursday, Nov. 6, signing Jeff Driskel to the practice squad.

The move comes one day after they officially placed Kyler Murray (foot) on injured reserve, ruling him out for at least four games — and leaving the Cardinals one quarterback short of a full complement.

Behind starter Jacoby Brissett, the other quarterback on the Cardinals roster is Kedon Slovis, an undrafted rookie in 2024. The Cardinals signed Slovis to their practice squad in August after releasing Clayton Tune. He was then promoted to the active roster when Murray suffered his foot injury in Week 5.

Slovis, though, has never appeared in an NFL game. Across five college seasons at USC, Pitt and BYU, he passed for 254.1 yards per game, 80 touchdowns and 39 interceptions.

Driskel, meanwhile, brings some NFL experience to the room. The eight-year veteran has started 12 games and appeared in 25 for six different organizations. He has 2,394 career passing yards, with 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Running back updates

In his news conference on Wednesday, Nov. 5, head coach Jonathan Gannon was asked whether running back Trey Benson could return from his knee injury this week. This is the first week that Benson is eligible to be activated off injured reserve.

Gannon, though, did not make that sound likely.

“He’s doing well,” Gannon said. “Take it day by day there. He’s not gonna be out there today but he is doing better. What does close mean? I don’t know what close means. Take it day by day but he’s doing well, he’s progressing.”

Through two practices this week, the Cardinals have not yet opened Benson’s practice window. That almost certainly means he will not be activated this week.

In his place, the Cardinals are left with two running backs on the active roster: Bam Knight and Emari Demercado. Knight got the start in Week 9 against the Cowboys and out-snapped Demercado, 38 to 27.

Michael Carter, who was elevated from the practice squad, did not play a single snap, despite being the first running back through drills during the practice week.

The Cardinals typically rely on Demercado on passing downs but he led the backfield in both carries and yards. He finished with 14 carries for 79 yards, while Knight had nine carries for 27 yards. Knight caught two passes for 20 yards, while Demercado caught one pass for a loss of one.

That was an inversion of their typical roles, but the Cardinals often asked Demercado to pass protect against a blitz-heavy Cowboys’ approach — preventing him from getting into routes, even on passing downs. Meanwhile, the Cardinals often passed on early downs out of heavy personnel, in order to take advantage of Dallas selling out to stop the run. That meant Knight was used more than normal in the passing game.

This week, it won’t be so easy to take advantage of mismatches. The Seahawks rarely play in base defense even against heavy personnel packages. The Cardinals will have to prove that they can run on early downs against the Seahawks’ nickel looks in order to open up their downfield passing game.